By Robert Kahn, Courthouse News
A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officer was arrested Tuesday and charged with taking bribes “to oversee the delivery of narcotics,” federal prosecutors said.
Sheriff’s Officer Kenneth Collins, 50, of Chino, was arrested with three other men as they arrived in Pasadena to provide security for delivering 45 lbs. of cocaine and more than 13 lbs. of methamphetamine from Pasadena to Las Vegas, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Collins allegedly told FBI undercover officers that he and his team would “take calculated steps to prevent legitimate law enforcement from intercepting the drugs — in exchange for cash payments as high as $250,000,” the federal prosecutor said.
The statement continued: “In justifying the high fees for his services, Collins allegedly told an undercover FBI agent ‘we’re cops’ and ‘all of our transports make it through.’”
Arrested with Collins were David Easter, 51, of Los Angeles; Grant Valencia, 34, of Pomona; and Maurice Desi Font, 56, of South Los Angeles. Font was to be charged in a second indictment late Tuesday, the U.S. attorney said, because he showed up unexpectedly as part of Collins’s “team.”
An affidavit in support of the criminal complaint against the first three men indicated that Collins was not a newcomer to crime.
Citing the affidavit, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said: “Collins claimed to have a very ‘professional’ ‘team’ comprised of ‘cops’ who ‘travel…with guns.’ He described how he and two others recently ‘handled’ a situation for a ‘client’ in Boston by setting a luxury truck on fire.”
The statement continued: “During a meeting in September, the undercover FBI agent told Collins that he was having an ‘issue’ with a person in Northern California, and in exchange for $2,000, Collins performed and delivered a ‘work-up’ on that person, which included obtaining that person’s home address and driver’s license number, according to the affidavit.
“When Collins delivered the ‘work-up’ in early October, the deputy sheriff allegedly said that he could provide additional services in relation to the Northern California person: ‘We can definitely, you know, kind of impact him a little bit.’”
If convicted of drug trafficking conspiracy, the men could be sentenced to life in prison.
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25 Comments
Son of a b******! We are fighting to keep our kids alive and this dirt bag is betraying all of America.
Throw him away for life!
Now we know how drugs keep getting into the jails.
Some people pray for loved ones to go to jail to get off drugs and instead find drugs easy to get in jail so they come out still addicted. Sure some smuggle it in but how many Sheriffs are involved!
1 of several
Training Day Part 2
By the way, I in now way mean this to be directed to all law enforcement. Kudos to the FBI and most Sheriffs and LAPD. I think they want to catch these dirt bags as much as I do.
Idiots
They cause the good, honest cops to take a shot in the neck, as know one knows who is honest and who is not?
Weed out the dirty cops and protect the good ones.
Great job, FBI.
Weed out the cops who sell shake.
God damn dirty shake dealers
Not suprised and don’t be when they all get off dirty ass rat sheriff’s I hope they send them to gp
The gangs behind the badge.Thete the worst gang way worse the 13th street gang!!Because these people are wolves in sheeps clothing!!!
I’m sure he’s not the only one, sadly. Drain the swamp!
LA sheriff deputy, not officer.
Now if only they can get chump out of office!
Sadly. This is happening way more often than you guys think. Can you blame them? They get paid alot less than you think. They deal with savages. Sometimes they turn into them.
Truth!
Good Luck in Prison
So suprised (NOT) some cops are assholes!
So why is cannabis being shown when the bust was for cocaine and meth?
easy/cheap propaganda
Propaganda at its finest! States nothing about marijuana, shows marijuana in cover photo for article. Oooooooooohkay
Great way to deep six your career, and your retirement. And bankrupt your family in legal fees.
For a short time I handled work comp claims for jail personnel. I found them to be abusive of the work comp system big time.
Shocking ???
Shocking ???